Summary:
Launching with the iPhone 7, Apple’s Airpods, (RRP AUD 229 are a great investment for anyone who loves music and wants to cut the wire.
Intro:
It seems these days, more and more phones are dispensing with the 3.5 MM headphone Jack, enter the AirPods Apple’s answer to wireless headphones.
What’s in the box:
The AirPods ship in a very nice case, which also acts as the charging base.
If you so desire, you can use one AirPod whilst the other gets a quick charge.
Speaking of charging, the cable that comes with your iPhone, or iPad will give the case power.

Set up and configuration:
As taken from Apple’s website which reads thus:
Just take them out and they’re ready to use with all your devices. Put them in your ears and they connect instantly. Speak into them and your voice sounds clear.
When you open the case for the first time, a prompt comes up, flick to the OK button, double tap, and there paired.
It’s one of the most seamless pairings I’ve done for a while.
AirPods work with all Bluetooth enabled devices.
The AirPods have Appel’s W1 ship, the page from Apple’s website explains the technology as:
All the ground-breaking things AirPods can do are driven by the custom-designed Apple W1 chip. It produces extremely efficient wireless for a better connection and improved sound. And the W1 chip manages battery life so well, you can listen for five hours on a single charge.3 It’s performance that’s unheard of in a device this small.
On average, I’m getting between 4-5 hours, which just about meets Apple’s claim of up to 5 hours.
Airpods do also work with PCS, but I’m yet to try the experience.
Final thoughts.
With the W1 ship, ease of use, and wonderful packaging the AirPods are worth it specially, if one does a lot of walking.
Rating:
4 Stars excellent.
Pros:
Wonderful sound, great case.
Cons:
From time to time, the Bluetooth drops out, this issue will be addressed with the upcoming 11.1.

Intro:
I remember what a big deal the Apple Watch was when it was released in 2015, but the notion I’ll explore in this piece is that you don’t need one.
Go ahead and spend the money you’d spend on the Watch on your next holiday.
1
It’s very expensive, once one gets a decent band, it really starts to add up.
2.
You don’t need it, there’s nothing that you can’t do with your iPhone that the Watch can do better in fact, in some ways it’s a hindrance as you must deal with 2 lots of notifications, which defeats the idea that you’ll be reaching less for your phone.
3.
The talk time for the version with cell connection is rated at 1 hour, that’s Bull shit, if I’m going to pay a starting price of AUD $400, I damn want more talk time.
4.
Nothing has changed, 3 versions in, this device still has a low-quality speaker, I mean my friends 2-way radio sounds better than this thing.
5.
Don’t buy into the hype. Have you ever sat through Apple’s revenue report? There’s a reason why the firm doesn’t give overall sales numbers for the Watch, because even though it’s an iOS device, the numbers are no way as good as iPad or iPhone sales.
6.
It’s a fashion toy, if you really want to stand out from the crowd, get yourself a Rolex instead of wasting your money on a pile of rubbish.
Granted, the Watch may become as powerful as the phone one day, but now it’s just another gimmick from a company struggling to return to their former glory days since the passing of Steve Jobs.
** The author worked for Apple Inc between 2012-2014 as an AppleCare specialist and product reviewer, he is no longer with Apple, and this review in no way constitutes a legal waver, and now is an independent blogger.

Intro:
The music streaming scene is red hot now, With Pandora having left the market Which only affects (Australian customers). The stakes have never been higher.
I’ll talk about the different streaming options available, from Google Music, to heart radio.
I hope at the end of this review you’ll get a decent sense of which streaming service to go with.
Background
Way back now, many years ago, Apple released a subscription service branded as “iTunes match “.
The notion was, that one could download from the iTunes Store, but more importantly if songs weren’t purchased from said Store, Apple would upload the user’s play-list to the cloud.
I, and several users, were greatly inconvenienced by this approach, reason being that peoples purchased content as well as downloaded content was all mixed together, not to mention how buggy the initial role out was.
Apple however, is very good at correcting their blunders, hence the re-branded Apple Music service.
Without a doubt, at over 47 million songs to choose from Apple Music has the biggest range of tracks that customers can listen to.
Add to that Beats 1 radio, and you’ve got a winner.
If you don’t want to be tied in to Apple’s garden, Google Music is also worth a look.
Both streaming services mentioned, are very accessible with Voiceover.
A slight annoyance with Apple Music is that during the earlier days it tended to mix your library of purchased content and Apple Music, this is no longer the case.
These music solution’s do require an Internet connection so, if you’re on a small data allowance do take care.
Having said that, many of the Aussie mobile providers do offer unlimited streaming on post-paid plans, but make sure you read the fine print of your respective contract to avoid bill shock.
Conclusion.
With the largest collection of songs, unmatched customer service via iTunes support, and great hardware when it comes to recently released iOS devices, Apple Music is worth it 100%.
Pros:
Excellent UI, works well with AirPods, never get a repeat with over 47 million songs, great support after the fact via iTunes customer care.
Cons:
None.
Rating:
5 stars outstanding.

With great battery life, slim chassis, iOS 11 and up to 512GB of storage Apple’s tablet is as close to perfect as possible.

Design.

Back in 2010, when I got my first iPad I was blown away by how nice it felt, fast forward 7 years and when I hold this tablet, I’m reminded of that magical day when I unboxed the iPad 2.
Much of the border has been removed giving the allusion that you’re holding nothing but a slab of glass.
The front of the tablet, is nothing but screen.
For sighted people they’ll appreciate the larger screen.
Us blind folk will make use of larger touch points for iPad specific apps.
In conclusion the design is fantastic, and as the old saying goes “don’t brake it if it isn’t broke.”

Power, oh my!

Ever since Apple started making their own CPU’s, the power of the iPad has been amazing.
In my stress test where I ping the modem and play video at full brightness the Pad lasted 11 hours.
That’s super impressive and with less use you should be able to make it through a day at the office with some time to play games) (all work and no play is no fun).
Most apps don’t come close to taxing the processor, but it’s good that Apple is future proofing the tablet.
A note on Touch ID, if you want to use the ID, probs best to get an iPad Pro now, as with the next refreshed Apple is probs going to switch to Face ID.

Final thoughts.
The iPad Pro is an awesome piece of equipment, can’t wait to take it on my travels as I’d like to get my work done when I’m on vacation.
It’s a great addition to a PC.

iPhone 8 review. Looking at Apple’s 10th anniversary smartphone.
Intro:
I remember getting my first iOS device,) An iPod touch). Since then, I’ve had my share of Apple products, and even worked for the firm for 2 years as an AppleCare specialist.
I’ll try to be subjective with my review, as everyone uses their smartphone in different ways. I hope by reading this post it’ll give you a decent notion as to whether you should get the 8 or 8+. OK, let’s get started!
Design:

Since the 6 series, Apple has stuck to the same basic design, if you’ve held the 6/6s you’ll be at home. I personally love how they’ve made the design very close to the 4/4s. It’s a bit heavy, but nowhere near as large as the 8+.
What’s new?
It’s getting harder and harder to recommend these phones as there’s no real value if you have the 5/5s, go for the upgrade, and I’m sure you’ll find it refreshing, otherwise upgrade if you can payout right, or go on a plan.
What’s changed?
Not a lot, if I wasn’t reviewing the iPhone 8 I would return it and get the money back. Admittedly, it’s very fast, scoring 89% using Geekbench. To put it into perspective this device is faster than my iPad pro 10.5-inch, and a basic mid-range Mac/PC.
But my point, is you don’t need to get a new phone every year.
Most people sighted or blind, don’t use half the computing power these devices afford.
If you’re iOS device supports iOS 11, might be worth skipping this one.
Get the X I hear you say? I personally wouldn’t, as I love the convenience of Touch ID, but there are those who will buy it for business reasons, such as Jonathan mosen from the Blind side, and David Woodbridge of Vision Australia, who will be getting one from the company for testing purposes, I believe his personal device will be an 8.
I’m of the opinion that it’s to early to jump on the bus yet.
Every first gen Apple product is known to have problems.
Back in 2010, users started complaining about dropped calls, The iPad third gen had display issues, and so on and so forth. I’d highly advise you wait for the second version of Face ID, hopefully this time next year Apple would’ve had time to address the problems that are sure to plague early adopters. Of course, if you’re an Apple fan through and through, Nothing I say will persuade you otherwise.
Conclusion:
With many subtle upgrades the iPhone 8 and 8+ are worthy, But I’d think long and hard before hitting that buy button, as it’s a nice upgrade as a pose to a required purchase.
If you have anything older than a 7, go for it, but other than that there’s nothing amazingly cool to be had here.
As for the iPhone X, Apple’s just playing catch up with Google’s Android, if money permits perhaps look at what the other side has to offer.

Rating:
3.5 stars good.
Pros:
Old but decent design, fantastic camera, fast.
Cons:
After 4+ years the design is getting boring, very expensive for what you get, almost all the features except for those that are hardware specific can be gotten with iOS 11.